Greek EU commissioner challenges bribery allegations

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European commissioner for migration, will mount a legal challenge over allegations he took bribes to help secure a lucrative contract for pharmaceutical company Novartis whilst a Greek minister.

The allegations, announced earlier this week by Greek prosecutors, stem from his time as minister of health in Athens between 2006 and 2009.

Those embarrassments were more or less swept away given that Oettinger was then handed the powerful budget commissioner portfolio, a step up from his previous post under Juncker as digital economy chief.

The scope of the budget commission tasks includes making sure EU officials behave well.

Juncker's predecessor as president Jose Manuel Barroso also had his own scandal.

German media outlet Correctiv, along with other newsrooms, have revealed how criminals annually cheat EU states out of billions in VAT fraud. The EU Commission says solutions exist - but member states refuse to budge on tax unanimity.